Always thought working for a "fan" site wouldn't be good for a journalist's career.

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Well, I would have felt the same way a decade ago. Now, some of the best writers I know work for the websites of the teams they used to cover. I guarantee you they have better job security than anyone at a newspaper.

With the Rivals and Scout sites, it all completely depends on the owner of the site. There are sites that do an incredible job and have several employees on staff who have been there for quite some time. Then there are a bunch that are just complete disasters and frequently they're in places (SEC Country) where they have the rabid fanbases to support that kind of thing. I know some great writers who have left really good jobs to go to one of the Rivals sites only to find themselves out of work a year or two later.

Calling someone who covers a college team or college recruiting for a website a homer in public hardly stings. Most of your paid readers expect you to be a homer. It would be like complaining that an investigative journalist takes a long time on each story.

The Scout site. I'm not sure the name of it. LonghornsInsider or something like that. I can't say I've read any of his stuff recently, but he's always been a hell of a reporter and is super connected at Texas. IIRC, he broke that Texas was staying in the Big 12 when everyone else was reporting otherwise and had Mack Brown stepping down as well.

The Scout site. I'm not sure the name of it. LonghornsInsider or something like that. I can't say I've read any of his stuff recently, but he's always been a hell of a reporter and is super connected at Texas. IIRC, he broke that Texas was staying in the Big 12 when everyone else was reporting otherwise and had Mack Brown stepping down as well.

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Uhhhh, I like Chip a lot and he is a very good reporter, but you are completely wrong.

Chip broke the story that Texas and Oklahoma were splitting for the Pac-12. As it turned out, just about everything he wrote for Orangebloods during that whole blowup turned out to be from one Board of Trustees member who was using Chip to secure the future of Texas as the big dog in the Big 12. All the schools were so scared Texas was going to leave and they'd be left holding their nuts (Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Missouri) that they caved into some ridiculous TV deal that was structured to heavily favor Texas financially.

In the end, Chip got used badly, and his heavy connection was hardly a trustworthy source. He embarrassed himself in the end on that stuff, but nobody remembers that. They only remember the huge news he kept churning out of Austin except that none if it was true. Then it all fell flat and Chip was nowhere to be found or heard from for weeks.